Swatch — omega “Mission to Mars” [VIDEO] HANDS-ON

Ree

Haha got me. But, I know, am serious. In 2022 this is like VW selling Golf with 911 lookalike body on top, through VW dealerships. Complete with Porsche and Carrera logos on them. Everyone knows its a Golf and performs like a Golf. But the Porsche/Carrera tribute logos should be on the side. Not the main event.

cvalue13

It’s really not.

Because only on Pluto would anyone that’s an actual or potential luxury watch buyer mistake or substitute a $260 plastic Swatch for being the real thing.

Proof by deduction: After this release, find me a single fake/replica website selling one of these swatches as being the real thing.

The actual analogous situation here has been previously proposed but to rehash:

JwRosenthal

Is that the new Carrera?? Two wheels!! Wow, Porsche really fooled me with that one

ConElPueblo

Well, I have a degree in marketing specifically tailored to the automotive industry and have a pretty extensive knowledge of it, being a car guy long before I was a watch guy - that was why your example really hit a nerve 😀

ConElPueblo

I can tell you that in my regional market, that if you ask a sales person in the VW dealership who the main competitor to a Passat is, he will tell you that is a new, lower-specced Audi or a slightly used one with comparable equipment. You picked the VAG group and their products are - to a fair extent - overlapping in key areas and, more importantly, have quite identical buyer profiles, with the main difference being income. Brand perception between VW and Audi or even VW and Skoda is very close to each other, so while a buyer might aspire to buy the top Audi, he will also be happy with a VW and see that a well-specced Skoda will fulfill his needs as well. In other words the circles are overlapping, but not completely - enough to have some shared brand/group values, but also plenty enough to have outliers that will make one of the brands appeal to some people exclusively amongst them. In your example you mention a base Tiguan and a loaded Macan, but make it the other way around and replace the Tiguan with a Audi Q5 and the image starts flickering.

Ree

That's all my point.

And bike vs car isn't right comparison. That's an Omega sunglasses.

cvalue13

that seems to be what the majority of civil disagreement around here hinges on: whether a person views a $260 pink, plastic, “MoonSwatch” as so categorically distinct as a product that it may as well be a bicycle or sunglasses

to my sensibilities, they’re as distinct a category as is my NEW321 and this

ConElPueblo

Just a quick question - when you say "product line" do you mean that they are both wristwatches?

Because there is zero overlap between the two products, Omega and Swatch. They could just as well have been lingerie and cheese.

gostang9

Yes, I meant Product Line as in Watches.

- Omega vs Swatch are different brands at very different tiers
- Speedmaster vs Seamaster vs MoonSwatch are different models
- Reduced vs Pro vs Uranus are different sub-models (to me)
- Quartz vs Mechanical are different technologies
- Steel vs Ceramic vs bio-blah-blah-bs are different materials

The same function (time & chronograph) comes from both a mechanical Omega Speedmaster Pro and this new quartz OmegaXswatch Speedmaster MoonSwatch. Differences in price are 'justified' entirely by difference in perceived 'prestige' and/or 'rarity'.

If you see a Swatch Quartz and Omega Mechanical as no more similar than lingerie and cheese... I strongly advise you stop buying the missus nice clothing at the local deli... and don't look for sandwich toppings at Victoria Secret 😁

Archer

These are not Omegas...

gostang9

I get your point... and as an Omega certified watchmaker, I value your opinion.

For the world at large, when they go to the Omega website, it's the first thing prominently displayed:

When they click on the link to "Discover More", it proudly speaks of it being a partnership and all of the visual branding has the OMEGA symbol and logo first and most prominent. This visual branding is very intentional, so they clearly want people to make a strong connection with Omega and the iconic Moonwatch. People may only be able to buy them at a Swatch store (or online eventually), but no one will miss the strong Omega branding. To say it's 'not an Omega' seems like a technical 'distinction without a difference'.

cvalue13

This is a cute but ultimately distracting framing of the context.

cvalue13

We haven’t seen this happening, as a first principle, because the requisite conditions don’t exit.

cvalue13

Starting from the observation that there are few (any other?) luxury groups that even contain under the same umbrella a low tier yet also conceptually meaningful collaboration brand, ...

Scooterino36

In your view, is the fact that it's manufactured by Swatch simply a distinction and not a difference?

gostang9

In my view, 'who' a product is from is discerned by the logo/markings more than the manufacturing location or retailer.

I buy Coca Cola and Pepsi at my local grocer or restaurant, I don't link them to the retailer or local sub-contracted bottling plant as much as the branding on the product itself.

Distinction: these watches may be put together at a 'Swatch' owned manufacturing center with 'Swatch' designed/built components, but the consumer doesn't see that and doesn't know or care about it.

No Difference: The consumer sees the bold Omega branding all over the product (very intentional).

Ree

I'm not against this collab. I think its genius. Just the dial execution I can't agree with.

gostang9

I have found the online commentary on this co-branding interesting. People discuss every bit of finite detail on each new Omega release with people often falling on various points of the "mehh, to it's okay, to love-it-gotta-have-it-NOW" scale. Comments are allowed, with debate and criticism accepted as relevant consumer perceptions.

Lot of commentary over the years about Rolex/Omega putting 'too much text' on dials... every available space on this dial was smattered with some branding -- who cares...

Commentary about dial layout, spacing and colour choices, yet for this -- the only allowable choice is which you prefer (two seems to be the minimum expectation... lol)

Often see discussions about the number of LE's and when will the proliferation of Speedy variants stop -- and for this, because it's not technically an 'Omega', and not a 'LE', it's all good!

I guess with this MoonSwatch, some of the anti-crowd have denounced Omega so critically and projected a crash in future value of watches in such a way that it's made any criticism of execution to be discounted out-of-hand.